Fast, powerful and flexible Citrix Ready HDX Verified thin client solutions revolutionise Dutch car firm’s IT infrastructure

Autoradam is a Dutch car rental and lease firm, headquartered in the province of Flevoland in the Netherlands. Along with its location in Almere, that has a car wash and petrol station, it has a new petrol station situated in Amsterdam, which will soon open a car rental and car wash. There are also plans afoot to expand further. It offers customers a range of automotive services, including flexible short-term car leasing and rental services from its fleet of reliable and high quality vehicles, along with competitively priced fuel and one of the largest and most modern car washes in the Netherlands.

The challenge–provide a faster, more efficient technology solution that will support its Citrix environment at lower cost

Previously, the car firm had a suite of Wyse 1200 and S10 thin client solutions in place, running from a Windows 2003 Terminal Server. This was causing severe disruption to the day-to-day working life of end users because of its unreliability and extremely slow performance.

With over 200 cars available for lease, staff needed an efficient system that would enable them to easily manage back office processes particularly as their clientele increases. What’s more, staff members needed reliable and regular access to internet, as well as the ability to quickly view images and video from their multiple surveillance systems.

The system that was in place just didn’t have the capacity to deal with the expanding car firm’s needs, offering a restricted browser experience, slow graphics performance and poor access to electronic banking.

Autoradam outsources all of its IT needs to iTraction, a full service Application Service Provider (ASP), with whom they have been working for the last nine years. iTraction is committed to giving its customers a high level of service, offering support seven days a week throughout the day. Every three to six years iTraction looks at refreshing its customers’ IT infrastructure and, given the issues that Autoradam was facing, it was definitely time to look at alternative thin clients on the market.

Implementing a new breed of thin client solutions with the NComputing N-series

One of the key drivers behind its move from Wyse to NComputing was the need for a solution that fully supported Citrix XenApp 6.5 and XenDesktop 7 and delivered an improved multimedia experience. Ultimately it was NComputing which offered the highest quality of performance and best value – a combination that is not always easy to achieve in the thin client market.

Another key incentive was NComputing’s integrated management solution, vSpace Management Centre, which comes as part of the N-series package. This, along with XenApp 6.5, is hosted in iTraction’s datacentre in the Netherlands. It enables the company to easily monitor and control its suite of thin clients and should there be any issues they can reach out and rectify these immediately to avoid any interference with work or user down time.

John Duynhouwer, managing director, iTraction explains, “Alternative thin clients on the market offer a relatively simple solution for a steep amount of money, whilst at the same time only providing a limited level of support. We’re well equipped here to deal with any potential IT challenges and should we need it, NComputing are fast to respond with a high level of support.”

NComputing N400 thin clients were installed across the three offices of Autoradam. Employees from all departments are now using the new solution, including workers in the petrol station shop, back office staff and more senior management.

Increased productivity and flexible working

Autoradam has seen a smooth transition to the NComputing solution, with employees having no problems in adapting to the new thin clients.

The Windows Terminal 2003 server combined with the Dell Wyse solution was outdated so the time it took to load websites was a severe hindrance for the manager who needed to be aware quickly of any changes in car values. Now the manager is able to easily look up the different prices of cars and be aware of fellow firms’ pricing to ensure the company offer a competitive experience to its customers. In addition, more and more websites were proving incompatible, including electronic banking which was an essential tool. With the transition to NComputing, all these problems have been eliminated and employees enjoy fast, uninterrupted internet access.

Access to multimedia has also seen significant improvement. The site’s supervisor has an extensive camera system in place so that he can monitor the petrol pumps for security and maintenance purposes and now he is able to easily access high quality video and images as soon as needed.

According to Hans Lansink, financial controller, Autoradam, “The new terminals are much faster than the old ones. We never have to switch them off so as soon as we arrive in the morning we can start working straight away. Graphics and videos run very smoothly and load much more quickly than they did previously. This means we’re spending less time frustrated and waiting to get on with essential tasks and are able to work much more efficiently.”

Furthermore, there has been a significant total cost of ownership saving of 20 percent and the robust and durable nature of NComputing thin clients means a longer lifecycle and there is no need to replace them as frequently as was necessary with previous solutions.

What’s next?

Autoradam has the potential to expand significantly over the next few years, with the likelihood of further locations in the capital and iTraction will be looking to deploy further NComputing thin client technology.

Hans states: “As our business needs change and develop, we’ll need a flexible technology solution that can be scaled. Given the smooth transition and fast deployment that iTraction delivered, as well as the impressive speed and power the N400s have given us, there is no doubt that they will prove a valuable asset when we look at growing our business.”

About NComputing

NComputing, Inc. is the fastest growing thin client provider in the world and has the third highest thin client market share globally, according to a recent IDC report. NComputing removes the barriers of desktop virtualisation adoption through a unique formula of simplicity, performance and value. NComputing’s integrated solutions serve global enterprise and mid-market companies in key verticals such as education, healthcare and government. With over 20 million daily users in 140 countries, the company is fuelling the adoption of desktop virtualisation faster than any other in the world. To learn more, visit http://www.ncomputing.com.

About iTraction

iTraction helps automotive companies re-focus on their core business with innovative IT outsourcing solutions. Its customers benefit from substantially reduced costs (TCO) and higher productivity. It stands out thanks to its commitment to constant improvement and an unprecedented high level of service and customer support, serving its customers 12 hours a day, seven days per week. To learn more about how to increase turnover and profits in five easy steps, visit http://www.autotraction.nl. For more information on iTraction’s work with NComputing, see http://www.autotraction.nl/ncomputing.

About Autoradam

Autoradam is a Dutch car rental and lease firm, located in Amsterdam and Almere in the Netherlands. It offers customers a wide range of automotive services, including flexible short-term car leasing and rental services from its fleet of reliable and high quality vehicles, along with competitively priced fuel and one of the largest and most modern car washes in the Netherlands. For more information, please see: http://www.autoradam.nl.